Thunder 90, Jazz 110 post game wrap

Just a little over two weeks ago, the Thunder put a 21 point loss on the Jazz, and at that time it was the first win of the season over a winning team. Tonight, the Jazz got a payback, slapping us with a 20 point loss. Box Score.

The Jazz were very efficient tonight offensively, scoring 110 points and ringing up 32 assists on 86 made field goals. They shot 51% from the field, 41% from deep and had an effective field goal rate of 55%. On the other side of the ball the Jazz had 12 steals, forced 25 turnovers and limited our field goal shooting to 48 % overall and 18% from deep (2/11).

I think we all knew that we would suffer defensively with the loss of Desmond Mason, and tonight our fears were realized. Desmond’s defense to me really comes in four parts. Firstly he plays defense physically. He bodies up on people, leans on them, bangs on them and disturbs their rhythm. Secondly he plays good position defense with his body placement, long arms and his foot work. Thirdly he protects the basket when somebody does get past him. He’ s a good shot blocker for his size and he really works at denying the basket at the rim. And lastly, he brings an attitude defensively, a tenacity, a mean streak on defense. Tonight, we saw rookie Kyle Weaver attempt to fill Mason’s shoes. Weaver doesn’t body up on guys; he does however make good use of positioning and the long arms. He doesn’t protect the basket much (he did attempt to take a charge, but was called for blocking). And Kyle seems like a laid back, “let the game come to you” type of defender. Not that Weaver is bad defensively, he just doesn’t have those four aspects that Mason brings. Mason is a warrior, Weaver is smooth.

The Thunder as a whole, for whatever reason, simply couldn’t stop the Jazz from scoring tonight. The Jazz had 95 points on the board and a 20 point lead at the end of the third quarter. They shot better than 52% in each of those first three quarters. The defensive improvement we’ve become accustomed to in the new year definitely took a night off.

Randomness:

I definitely didn’t care for the backcourt of Chucky Atkins and Earl Watson. It forces Earl to play the two and defend the two, of which he did neither especially well. Korver blocked him cleanly while he was trying to create his own shot, and CJ Miles posted him up like he wasn’t even there.

Early on I really noticed Durant working hard on defense. He has obviously been working at it. Tonight I saw him down in a defensive stance with his arms out attempting to disrupt. We haven’t seen much of that before from KD.

Utah got 4 offensive boards and a putback all in one possession, right over the top of Krstic and Wilcox.

The Jazz really know how to run the Pick and Roll to perfection.

By the middle of the second period, Krstic and Collison each had three fouls. Wilcox was sent to man the paint for the Thunder and the rout was on. Utah put 36 on us in the quarter and the Weezer was -11 in 9 minutes of play.

Harpring really bodied up on Durant and forced him into a couple of tough shots; later, Korver tried to get too close and Durant rang his bell with that move where he brings the shot attempt up through the defenders arms (and face if it’s too close).

At one point in the early third period, Utah was tracking with an offensive efficiency of 144 to our 106!

We finished with an offensive efficiency of 98, and a defensive efficiency of 119.

We won the rebounding battle again 43-34, but if you give the ball away as much as we did, it pretty much gets cancelled out.

Westbrook and Durant each had nice nights, less the turns. Durant had 5 and Westbrook had 4.

Our bench gave us 17 points tonight. Any chance Mr. Presti can find a bench scorer for one of our expiring contracts?

Next up is a road game on Sunday against one of the worst (lately) defensive teams on the planet: Sacramento. They haven’t held a team under 106 points in the last ten games. Hopefully we can get right in Arco arena. The game should just about be over in time for the Superbowl to start.

I definitely didn't care much for Atkins and Watson together in the backcourt either. The lineup they started the 2nd quarter with atrocious and was what put this team in a whole they would never climb out of.

Losing Mason hurts more than I expected it to already, and with the lineup of games coming for February...ugh its going to be a COLD month.

The Jazz were too physical for us, and pushed us around. Nick will fight for a board, but Weezy and Kristic are too easy to push around, and they got pushed around all night. That's on offense and on defense. And Williams is a tough guard who knows how to by physical as well.

Once the train started wrecking, no one could figure out how to keep it from going completely off track. I liked how Durant and Westbrook continued to work their strengths in the game. It's an odd transition to me, to see a point guard go from a points/assists game to a points/rebounds game.

And Joe, you're right on when you call Mason a warrior and Weaver smooth. That's exactly how it is. The team will have to adjust to the new style, and Weaver will have to figure out how to improve his game. With all the minutes he'll be getting, he'll have the opportunity to be good.

I think the guys are trying to play a little defense, but as you say, Utah has the pick and roll down pat. I don't know how many times our center or power forward would leave their own guy wide open when they moved to help someone else out.

It also seemed to me that except for KD - seems like he's always an exception - shooting was a bit off. I didn't think the shot selection was bad; we just couldn't hit.

It makes me think back to an article I read after the Thunder's first loss in SLC where the Jazz were talking about how the difference in elevation seemed to affect teams. That's always been a consideration when teams of all sports play in the Denver area, but I guess it applies to SLC too. I don't want to blame our poor play on the altitude because it really didn't seem like our guys were gassed, but maybe it's enough to affect their shooting a bit.

Now... there were some really impressive set half-court offensive plays last night where ball movement was crisp and clean producing good shots with good looks... But unfortunetly we didnt sustain those through the entire game... PJ ball reared its ugly head from time to time...

I noticed that about Durant too. He was trying the whole "put your palm in his face" approach which is good. I think with some better footwork, Durant could be a really good defender. He's got the frame of a Tayshaun Prince, but just doesn't have the defensive skills yet. But I think they will come.